This week's Poetry Thursday prompt is Blue...
Packing for Montana, I try to be ruthless,
stripping down. Just the essentials:
warm sweater
new toothbrush
three pairs of socks.
When my rucksack is full, I coil my rope on top.
I made this rope.
Selected the fibers, twisted and twisted
until they kinked and smoothed
into a cohesive whole.
Hemp for the base, simple and strong,
the feather a blue jay left on the porch
clippings from your latest haircut
threads from the hem of my old jeans
and wool sheared from the sheep down the road.
Long enough to tie to a fencepost and
wrap three times around my waist.
I'll anchor myself with the pieces of our life.
Big sky country:
I know what will happen.
Ensnared by the wild and dangerous song in my heart,
forgotten by gravity,
I'll cease to hug the earth
and fall into the great oasis of the endless azure sky.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
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9 comments:
what an amazing poem for your first post. i love it.
love the stanza about the rope!
I love:
"I'll anchor myself with the pieces of our life."
The last stanza is beautiful.
a truly powerful -- beautiful (!) poem, sasha -- the poem itself is a wild and dangerous song. I feel restless. the rope! the fencepost, bluejayfeather. sheep wool. all the little bits of a life.
I have this question i ask myself all the time: what will i do when i get to the end of my rope? there are always different answers.
maureen
Montana...?
Being an echo here, but I also really like the bit about the rope, especially all the things that go into making it.
I'll anchor myself with the pcs of our life.
Thats my favorite line. Very nice!!
Wonderful poem this, especially the last stanza.
Sasha - I just read your post on Poetry Thursday (10-30-06) about Mary Oliver's poem "When Death Comes" That's one of my favorite poems. Thanks for making me remember that!
Dennis
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